Happy 9th Birthday Brennan!

Happy Birthday Brennan!  9!  We can't believe it.

You arrived 11 days earlier than your due date - January 29th. 

But we planned to have you on Martin Luther King Day - January 21st. 

But on January 18th you let me know that it was THE DAY.

Aw, look at your scrunchy face in the bright sunlight!

And here you are at 3 weeks. 

You spent your second month in short-term housing as we prepared to move to Mexico

(that's why you don't recognize this couch)!

And happy 7th birthday to your birthday buddy Natalie! 

Cousins born on the same day, just 2 years apart.  It makes today even more special!

Happy Birthday!

Valentine's Day Art

It is really hard to believe that Valentine's Day is less than a month away! 

With our long 3-day weekend I decided to go ahead and get out a couple of Valentine's Day decorations to go with some of the winter-y things I still have out like this

and this

First up, I printed this great subway art onto cardstock.  I got it here at eighteen25.  I liked theirs in the white frame, but I went with black this time.

And I replaced the art in these frames

for Valentine's Day!

I love being able to change out the art so easily.  I showed you how I did the originals here.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

Tubing

I have heard about this great skiing and tubing place about an hour from us and have always wanted to take the boys but never had. 

This year I invested in some snow pants and boots for myself (after 6 years!) and decided to do it!

I didn't tell the boys where we were going until we were in the car.  The suspense was killing them but they love a surprise. 

They were so excited, but nothing prepared them for this first glimpse of the actual place.  They were beside themselves!

They have never seen people skiing in real life.  They couldn't wait for me to park. 

Today I decided to see how tubing went before we take on skiing.  They couldn't wait. 

I, on the other hand, saw these slopes and realized how high they were and how fast everyone was tubing down them.  Hmmm.  And Dad's traveling so it was just me. 

Photo taken with my phone so we could send it to dad.  They couldn't wait!

Here we are riding the moving sidewalk to the top of the 3 sets of slopes.  I'm searching for the bunny slope.  Brennan is figuring out which one is highest so he can start there.  Oh crappola. 

I find the shortest ones I can find.  Here I am at the top re-thinking this entire escapade. 

But I did it and it was awesome!  A little nervewracking but after two times down, I was hooked.

The boys on the other hand are afraid of nothing and immediately moved to the taller, faster slopes without me. 

Thomas had a blast, but he wants to do skiing next. 

Brennan had more fun than anyone.  When I asked if they liked their surprise Brennan said, "It wasn't just a surprise.  It was a THRILL!" 

The below freezing temps didn't bother any of us in the least.  Two hours of tubing in the beautiful sunshine in the right clothing kept us from realizing how cold it really was.  I'm so glad I finally got the snow pants and boots so I can enjoy winter a little more!

Painting the Fireplace

This is one of those projects that I am adding to my list of projects that I should have done years ago!  It was so easy.  But if it hadn't been for the home decorating blog world, I never would have thought about it.

Last year we had our living room fireplace fitted with gas logs.  It's nice to be able to have a fire going during the cold winters.  But look at the interior.  Yuck.  27 years of fires burning in there.

Some more close up shots. 

And then I read somewhere on a blog months and months ago that they had used heat-resistant paint to paint the interior of their fireplace.  I had never heard of heat-resistant paint.  While I was at Lowe's yesterday, I picked up a can and a small roller.

And voila!

And some close-ups.

I ended up doing two coats and let it dry in between overnight.  Not sure that was necessary but it looks really nice and finished now.

Ah.... so much better!

Wine Club Appetizers

At our innaugural Wine Club last weekend I ended up fixing a number of new recipes, along with some old favorites. 

Along with some delicious sweets that I shared a few days ago, I made 3 new savory recipes that I wanted to share here. 

The first was a wonderful crab dip that I saw on Semi-Homemade Cooking on Food Network over the holidays.  It looked so good.  I decided to try it out.  You can find the recipe here.  Instead of making the fried wontons, I went with rice crackers that I found at my local grocery store.  They were great with the crab dip.

Next up were Asiago-Olive Rolls that I found in the December 2010 Southern Living magazine.  You can find the full recipe here.  They were light and delicious and I had several questions about them.  They went fast.  I will definitely make them again.  By the way, I did not brush the tops with butter and I don't think it mattered.

Finally I made a Baked Goat Cheese Dip that I also found in the December 2010 Southern Living.

The recipe can be found here.  I served this dip with an assortment of crackers and fresh vegetables.  All that was left was a little bit of tomatoes in the bottom of the dish!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

For last night's Wine Club I made a couple of new recipes.  In addition to cheese, olives, almonds, dips, crackers, vegetables, Swiss fonude and meatballs, I made a couple of sweets. 

Everyone loved the Cake Balls - by far the winner in the official dessert vote run by the kids.  The Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies came in second.  David pointed out it might not have made sense to serve this type of cookie while we were all sipping red wine, but that didn't stop more than 3 dozen from disappearing in a couple of hours!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 pouch Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix

1/2 c butter, softened

1 tsp mint extract

8 drops greens food coloring

1 egg

1/2 cup creme de menthe baking chips (I used Nestle)

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chunks (I used Nestle)

I put in 1 cup total of chips and chunks and the batter was pretty  full of chips.  The original recipe calls for a cup of each.  I might add a few more in next time, but I read a review that said that a full cup of each was too much.

Mix all ingredients and then stir in the chips and chunks. 

Drop dough 2 inches apart and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

I think these would be great served with ice cream.  Great for St. Patrick's Day too!